Tennis birthdays - Feb. 1, 2012

The Czech lefty is one of those solid, if unspectacular players who is making a nice living between singles and doubles on the Tour, is capable of a great performance here and there, and sets an example by being a true professional who works hard at it and is one of the fittest ladies around.

She has started the season well in singles. Benesova beat Sam Stosur in Brisbane (also Safarova) before losing to Clijsters. She upset Peng Shuai at the Aussie Open on her way to the fourth round (matching last year’s effort) before being outclassed by eventual champion Victoria Azarenka.

Last year, she upset Kirilenko and Pavlyuchenkova in Melbourne.

Benesova has two career singles wins, the second came two years ago in Fes, Morocco. She has 13 WTA Tour doubles titles and is currently ranked No. 49 in singles; her best was No. 25 in April, 2009.

In doubles, she reached her career high of No. 17 a year ago after the Australian Open; she’s currently at No. 35.

At the moment, she’s also cross-dating, with fellow lefty Jurgen Melzer of Austria. There are rumours (unsubstantiated) the two are engaged after a whirlwind romance.

The two won the mixed doubles at Wimbledon last year, which seems to have been the kickstart to their romance. Melzer has been a solid tennis dater; he once was the beau of Dominika Cibulkova before dumping her for a swimmer. Also Anastasia Myskina.

Their subsequent partnerships in Slams have run into tough draws; they lost to Nestor and Srebotnik (10-7 in the superbreaker) in the first round of the U.S. Open and to Bhupathi and Mirza (12-10 in the breaker) in the second round in Oz.

Serious Montreal tennis fans will remember Joyce as the unknown who got the biggest cheering section of his life, at the Rogers Cup back in 1995.

You see, the American was playing former Montrealer Greg Rusedski, who bit the bullet and returned “home” for the first time after “defecting” to Great Britain.

The fans let him have it and Joyce had the time of his life when he beat Rusedski 7-6, 6-3.

Here’s an excerpt from the Montreal Gazette article by Pat Hickey from back then.

Michael Joyce and the crowd at the Jarry Tennis Stadium both sent Greg Rusedski packing yesterday.

Joyce defeated Rusedski 7-6, 6-3 in the first round of the du Maurier Canadian Open tennis championships as the crowd of 6,500 started booing Rusedski even before he took the court.

One fan threw a tennis ball at Rusedski (“It’s okay, he missed,” Rusedski said) and a banner described him as the Queen’s fool. The fans showed their displeasure at his good shots and cheered every one of his 29 unforced errors. They punctuated the result by singing “Na-na-na-na, hey, hey, hey, goodbye.”

While there were scattered cheers for Rusedski, the majority of the crowd threw its support behind Joyce. Or rather, against Rusedski, who announced earlier this year that he was moving to London and would play Davis Cup for Britain.

Rusedski said he expected the reaction to be much worse and that the crowd didn’t affect his play. But Joyce, a Californian who has been playing against Rusedski since they were 12-year-olds, had a different view.

“He seemed nervous before the match and I knew he wasn’t nervous about playing me,” said Joyce, a qualifier who is currently ranked No. 91 on the ATP computer. Rusedski is No. 50.

Both players said they were excited because the crowd was into the match, but Joyce said there was one drawback for him. “I like to get pumped up and have the crowd behind me, but Greg’s a good friend and I didn’t want to embarrass him or his family.”

As a player, he reached No. 64 in singles.

Now, Joyce is best known as the longtime coach and friend of Maria Sharapova. That’s past tense.

Joyce started as her hitting partner, as father Yuri was the coach. Eventually, dad started to stay home and Joyce was promoted – until early last season, when he left to go back home from Auckland, New Zealand, after Sharapova had hired Thomas Hogstedt as a “co-coach.”

The writing had been on the wall, but Sharapova characterized it as a temporary break, and reportedly was still paying him. Depending on whose version you believe (and the truth is likely somewhere in the middle), we’re told that out of respect for her, he made it easy on her and stepped aside.

He’s currently working with American junior Jessica Pegula, whose dad owns the Buffalo Sabres.

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